Pelvic floor dysfunctions, such as urinary incontinence, for example, is a common problem in a large percentage of adults. Studies have shown that this problem can be effectively treated in a large percentage of the cases, however, various forms of urinary incontinence or other pelvic floor muscular dysfunctions require different forms of treatment or combinations thereof to increase the rate of success.
It has long been known that muscles can be electrically stimulated by the application of electrical impulses to the surface of the skin, referred to as transcutaneous electrical stimulation. For useful results, the proper positioning of the electrodes in relation to the nerve and associated muscle to be stimulated is very important.
Studies have been conducted using patch type surface electrodes which are adhesively attached to the body in the area of the pelvic floor for electrical stimulation of the pelvic floor muscles involved in treating urinary incontinence. The results of this study indicate such treatments can be useful to increase the success rate of combating urinary incontinence. In addition EMG measurements are desirable to monitor the course of progress during treatment.
However, the drawbacks to the prior method and means of treatment include significant irritation of the patient's skin, the need of relatively highly trained personnel to properly position the electrodes and/or properly instruct patients to position the electrodes and the fact that the configuration and nature of the patch type electrodes used, which are commercially widely available for general use, are not wholly satisfactory to provide efficient and effective treatment of the area involved.
Skin irritation of the patient from the adhesively applied electrode patches interferes with the treatment regimen required to effectively and comfortably treat a patient. In order to effectively treat a patient for these types of disorders, it is necessary to repeat the treatment several times over a significant number of days. In at least some instances, it is desirable to employ a continuous treatment over an interval of several hours in a day, which must also be repeated on subsequent days. The fact that many medical personnel have little or no training regarding the accurate positioning of the electrodes for treating pelvic floor dysfunctions, or for EMG monitoring, has limited the effective use of the prior method and means to a limited number of medical facilities which have a properly trained staff.
The above noted drawbacks have so limited the use of electrical stimulation techniques for treating these disorders that it is essentially not available to most of the patient population who may benefit from this form of treatment. Additionally, these drawbacks represent disincentives to the patient such that it is very difficult to obtain the patient cooperation necessary to conduct the full course of treatment required to be successful in resolving the problem.
There are presently available garments which carry a plurality of electrodes for electrical stimulation of different areas of the body, however, these garments are limited to generally large and more readily accessible areas of the body and are not suitable for use in treating pelvic floor dysfunctions, such as urinary incontinence. Such prior art is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,148 and the patents cited therein, for example.